Latonas Website Brokerage

Latonas Brokerage Review



Based on listing numbers, Latonas is the largest website brokerage, however it’s also by far the most controversial one.

Established in 2011 (2009 as a Domain Brokerage, later pivoted), Latona’s generally lists smaller properties, anywhere from as little as $3,000 to $200,000. Larger properties are rare but do show up at times.

Valuations

Latona’s tends to often significantly overvalue the assets that they list, likely in order to gain listings that would otherwise end up with the competition. This results in most listings remaining unsold for long periods (see below), until the seller is convinced to significantly lower their price.

Due Diligence / Asset Quality

As witnessed by several of my clients over the years, very little is done in the way of due diligence and virtually anything can get listed. Therefore it’s extremely important to perform your own thorough due diligence as a buyer and leave no stone unturned, as high quality assets are mixed with extremely low quality and sometimes fraudulent sites.

Quality of Marketing Materials

As of recently, Latona’s has started providing PDF prospectuses in addition to the information that they make available on their website to registered buyers.

Based on a small sample, Latona’s prospectuses appear to cover most of the basic information necessary, as well as feature a Seller Interview, however the quality can usually not be compared to some other brokerages.

Provided documentation, predominantly financial information, is often inconsistent and depends on the individual broker representing the listing and seemingly on how thorough financials the seller has provided, as standards in this appear to be lacking.

Longevity / Reliability

The firm has been operating as a website brokerage since 2011 and employs a fairly large number of brokers, therefore there’s little in the way of concerns about longevity.

Integrity

Latona’s are well known to employ highly questionable marketing practices, such as sending out unsolicited emails claiming to have a buyer interested in your site, only to get you to sign with them, at which point the buyer no longer exists. This practice has been reported by a large number of people over several years.

Latona’s also appears to consistently ‘game’ various online review sites, as can be seen here, where a large number of positive reviews are all posted in a very close date range and by unestablished accounts, making it highly likely that the reviews are not legitimate.

Inventory and Turnaround

Inventory is typically well over 100 listings, however due to the price inflating and the listing of low quality assets, turnaround is extremely slow and many listings are active for a year or longer.

Details:

Established: 2011 (2009 as a Domain Brokerage)
URL: http://latonas.com/
Director: Rick Latona
Brokers: Adam Beebe, Chip Bauerle, Eric Leighton, Ryan Lane

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  • Valerie Lavallee

    This “brokerage” is a scam and Rick Latona is a known criminal……….

  • Mark

    I got swindled by their “broker” Adam Beebe who evaluated my site much higher than everybody else I talked to and then didn’t send me even one buyer in more than six months.

    In this time I had to attend to other business and couldn’t put as much time in my site so profits got down and later I only sold it for less than half of the amount.

    This company is a disgrace.

  • walther

    very unprofessional company